Department of Social Welfare and Development DSWD) Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said that food and rice supplies have been prepositioned to all local government units (LGUs) along Typhoon Ruby’s path for their repacking to ensure the faster distribution of goods to those who will be affected by the disaster.
“We have learned our lesson during Typhoon Yolanda when distribution of food packs was delayed because these have to be repacked first before given to LGUs. Hence, we have already provided the relief goods for the LGUs to repack,” Sec. Soliman said.
Kung meron pang hindi nabibigyan ng relief goods sa mga LGUs sa dadaanan ni ‘Ruby’, maaring ipagbigay alam agad sa aming ahensya (If there are LGUs which have not received relief goods, please immediately inform our agency),” Sec. Soliman said.
The Secretary also urged local chief executives to immediately distribute relief goods to their constituents who are now in evacuation centers as a result of the pre-emptive evacuation.
DSWD-Field Office VIII has prepositioned relief goods to all provinces of Eastern Visayas.
Director Nestor Ramos said that a total of 11,050 sacks of rice at 50 kg. each has already been prepositioned to the Provincial Action Teams through the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Offices (PSWDO).
Eastern Samar province where ‘Ruby’ is estimated to make its landfall this evening, received 4,750 sacks of rice for their PSWDO and municipalities including Hernani, Lawaan, Oras, Salcedo, Maydolong, Gen MacArthur, Giporlos, Balangkayan, Can-avid, Jipapad, Taft, Balangiga, and Maslog.
On the other hand, Leyte was allotted 3,800 sacks of rice for the municipalities of Barugo, Sta. Fe, Baybay, Capoocan, Kananga, Julita, Mayorga, Palompon, San Miguel, Dagami, La Paz, Dulag and Babatngon.
Northern Samar PSWDO got 1,000 sacks of rice while Samar received 1,500 sacks for Marabut and Basey towns.
DSWD will augment the distribution of rice packs while the provision of canned goods has become the provincial government’s counterpart.
The Field Office has 25,000 standby food packs. Continuous repacking of relief goods is being done at the DSWD Tacloban Hub.
Furthermore, a warehouse at Palompon, Leyte, has also been opened where goods for Southern Leyte and the Biliran Province have been prepositioned.
Repacking hubs
Although the DSWD has already downloaded relief supplies to the LGUs, continuous repacking is being done at the designated hubs and at the National Resource Operations Center in Pasay City to augment the supplies of the regions.
Sec. Soliman announced that Cebu, being strategically located, is the major repacking hub for faster and easier distribution of relief goods to provinces to be affected.
Other repacking hubs are at the DSWD-Field Offices XI, XII, and CARAGA.
Pre-emptive evacuation
In anticipation of typhoon ‘Ruby’s landfall, the affected local government units (LGUs) have conducted pre-emptive and forced evacuation of residents living near danger zones, such as coastal and low-lying areas.
To date, 14 evacuation centers are open in MIMAROPA temporarily housing 231 families or 837 persons, 34 in Western Visayas serving 1,364 families or 5,845 persons, 123 in Central Visayas providing temporary shelter to 8,391 families or 33,642 individuals, 196 in Eastern Visayas serving 16,530 families with 80,219 persons, and 229 in CARAGA with 9,777 families or 40,206 individuals.
Mobilization
As part of its intensified disaster response preparation, an orientation on disaster response and management was held today at the DSWD Central Office in Batasan Hills, Quezon City for employees who volunteered to be deployed in regions to be hit by ‘Ruby’.
DSWD Assistant Secretary Vilma Cabrera oriented the employees on their roles and responsibilities upon deployment.
“Disaster management aims to save lives and property, minimize costs of damage, organize work/action among players, and speed up reconstruction and rehabilitation of areas devastated by disasters,” Assec. Cabrera explained.
Assec. Cabrera also reminded the employees to be sure that they are ready for such deployment.
“You must be physically and mentally fit, and your families ready for your deployment to disaster stricken regions,” she said.
The first batch of employees will leave via C-130 tomorrow morning and will be deployed for a minimum of 10 days. ### (DSWD-Social Marketing Service) December 6, 2014
